Deputy Works Minister: 50-year concession period for West Coast Expressway reasonable

(Bernama) – The 50-year concession agreement for the West Coast Expressway (WCE) linking Banting to Taiping is reasonable despite its length, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.

Deputy Works Minister Mohd Anuar Mohd Tahir said this was because negotiations took into account various factors including setting reasonable toll rates and the return on investment.

“We can speed up the (concession) period, but will the people be prepared to pay high toll-rates?” he said during the question-and-answer session.

He was responding to a supplementary question from Muslimin Yahaya (PH-Sungai Besar) on whether the Pakatan Harapan government intended to review the timeframe of the concession agreement, as it was deemed to be too long.

Meanwhile, Mohd Anuar said the WCE highway project was 60 per cent completed and expected to be opened in phases beginning next year.

He said the WCE project, which was supposed to be completed in April 2020, is now expected to be fully built by 2022 due to delays in the land acquisition process.

The WCE project which aims to connect areas such as Hutan Melintang, Bagan Datuk, Teluk Intan, Lekir, Sitiawan, Parit and Trong is being built through a public-private partnership between West Coast Expressway Sdn Bhd and the Federal Government.